Sunita Williams to End 8-Month Space Mission, Return to Earth on March 19

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams is set to return to Earth in March after spending over eight months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Williams, along with fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore, will conclude her extended spaceflight following the arrival of Crew-10 next month.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, in an exclusive conversation with CNN from space, confirmed that the Crew-10 mission is set to launch from Earth on March 12. The four-member team will dock with the ISS for a six-month mission, maintaining NASA's continuous presence aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will transfer their duties before a new ISS Commander takes charge. Following a week-long handover, they will board the Dragon spacecraft, which brought Crew-10 to space, and undock on March 19 for their return to Earth.

"The plan is that Crew-10 will launch on March 12, do a turnover for a week and we will return on March 19," astronaut Butch Willmore told CNN in the interview.

The return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who traveled to the ISS on Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule last summer, is contingent on the arrival of Crew-10. The four-member team will ensure the station's American crew remains at normal staffing levels.